§13.1τοὺς δὲ Σαλίους ἱερεῖς ἐκ τοιαύτης λέγεται συστήσασθαι προφάσεως.
It is said that the Salian priests were established from the following cause.
ἔτος ὄγδοον αὐτοῦ βασιλεύοντος λοιμώδης νόσος περιϊοῦσα τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐστρόβησε καὶ τὴν Ῥώμην.
In the eighth year of his reign, a pestilential disease, traversing Italy, threw Rome also into confusion.
ἀθυμούντων δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἱστορεῖται χαλκῆν πέλτην ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταφερομένην εἰς τὰς Νομᾶ πεσεῖν χεῖρας.
While the people were disheartened, it is recorded that a bronze shield fell from heaven into the hands of Numa.
ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτῇ θαυμάσιόν τινα λόγον λέγεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως, ὃν Ἠγερίας τε καὶ τῶν Μουσῶν πυθέσθαι.
And concerning this, a wonderful story is said to have been told by the king, which he had learned from Egeria and the Muses.
§13.2τὸ μὲν γάρ ὅπλον ἥκειν ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ δεῖν αὐτὸ φρουρεῖσθαι γενομένων ἄλλων ἕνδεκα καὶ σχῆμα καὶ μέγεθος καὶ μορφὴν ἐκείνῳ παραπλησίων, ὅπως ἄπορον εἴη τῷ κλέπτῃ διʼ ὁμοιότητα τοῦ διοπετοῦς ἐπιτυχεῖν ἔτι δὲ χρῆναι Μούσαις καθιερῶσαι τὸ χωρίον ἐκεῖνο καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸ λειμῶνας, ὅπου τὰ πολλὰ φοιτῶσαι συνδιατρίβουσιν αὐτῷ.
For he said that the weapon had come for the salvation of the city, and that it must be guarded after eleven others had been made, similar to it in shape, size, and form, so that it might be impossible for a thief, because of the resemblance, to succeed in taking the one that fell from heaven; and further, that he must consecrate to the Muses that place and the meadows around it, where they usually resorted to spend time with him.
τὴν δὲ πηγὴν ἣ κατάρδει τὸ χωρίον, ὕδωρ ἱερὸν ἀποδεῖξαι ταῖς Ἑστιάσι παρθένοις, ὅπως λαμβάνουσαι καθʼ ἡμέραν ἁγνίζωσι καὶ ῥαίνωσι τὸ ἀνάκτορον.
And the spring which watered the place, he declared to be sacred water for the Vestal Virgins, so that taking it daily they might purify and sprinkle the palace.
§13.3τούτοις μὲν οὖν μαρτυρῆσαι λέγουσι καὶ τὰ τῆς νόσου παραχρῆμα παυσάμενα.
To these things they say that the immediate cessation of the plague also bore witness.
τὴν δὲ πέλτην προθέντος αὐτοῦ καὶ κελεύσαντος ἁμιλλᾶσθαι τοὺς τεχνίτας ὑπὲρ τῆς ὁμοιότητος, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀπειπεῖν, Οὐετούριον δὲ Μαμούριον ἕνα α τῶν ἄκρων δημιουργῶν οὕτως ἐφικέσθαι τῆς ἐμφερείας, καὶ κατασκευάσαι πάσας ὁμοίας, ὥστε μηδʼ αὐτὸν ἔτι τὸν Νομᾶν διαγινώσκειν.
When he produced the shield and ordered the craftsmen to compete for its resemblance, while the others gave up, Veturius Mamurius, one of the foremost artisans, so attained the likeness and manufactured them all so similar, that not even Numa himself could distinguish them anymore.
τούτων οὖν φύλακας καὶ ἀμφιπόλους ἀπέδειξε τοὺς Σαλίους ἱερεῖς.
Of these, therefore, he appointed the Salian priests as guardians and attendants.
§13.4σάλιοι δὲ ἐκλήθησαν, οὐχ, ὡς ἔνιοι μυθολογοῦσι, Σαμόθρᾳκος ἀνδρὸς ἢ Μαντινέως, ὄνομα Σαλίου, πρώτου τὴν ἐνόπλιον ἐκδιδάξαντος ὄρχησιν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἀπὸ τῆς ὀρχήσεως αὐτῆς, ἁλτικῆς οὔσης, ἣν ὑπορχοῦνται διαπορευόμενοι τὴν πόλιν, ὅταν τὰς ἱερὰς πέλτας ἀναλάβωσιν ἐν τῷ Μαρτίῳ μηνί, φοινικοῦς μὲν ἐνδεδυμένοι χιτωνίσκους, μίτραις δὲ χαλκαῖς ἐπεζωσμένοι πλατείαις καὶ κράνη χαλκᾶ φοροῦντες, ἐγχειριδίοις δὲ μικροῖς τὰ ὅπλα κρούοντες.
And they were called Salii, not, as some mythologize, after a Samothracian or Mantinean man, Salius by name, who first taught the armed dance, but rather from the dance itself, which is leaping, which they dance when they go through the city, when they take up the sacred shields in the month of March, clothed in scarlet short tunics, girt with broad bronze belts and wearing bronze helmets, striking the shields with small daggers.
§13.5ἡ δὲ ἄλλη τῆς ὀρχήσεως ποδῶν ἔργον ἐστί· κινοῦνται γάρ ἐπιτερπῶς, ἑλιγμούς τινας καὶ μεταβολὰς ἐν ῥυθμῷ τάχος ἔχοντι καὶ πυκνότητα μετὰ ῥώμης καὶ κουφότητος ἀποδιδόντες.
The rest of the dance is a matter of the feet; for they move gracefully, executing certain windings and rapid transitions in a quick and dense rhythm with strength and agility.
αὐτὰς ς δὲ τὰς πέλτας ἀγκύλια καλοῦσι διὰ τὸ σχῆμα· κύκλος γάρ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ ἀποδίδωσιν, ὡς πέλτη, τὴν περιφέρειαν, ἀλλʼ ἐκτομὴν ἔχει γραμμῆς ἑλικοειδοῦς, ἧς αἱ κεραῖαι καμπὰς ἔχουσαι καὶ συνεπιστρέφουσαι τῇ πυκνότητι πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἀγκύλον τὸ σχῆμα ποιοῦσιν·
And the shields themselves they call ancilia because of their shape; for they are not circles, nor do they present, like a buckler, a round circumference, but they have a cut of a spiral line, the extremities of which, having curves and turning back closely toward each other, make the shape curved.
§13.6ἢ διὰ τὸν ἀγκῶνα περὶ ὃν περιφέρονται, ταῦτα γάρ ὁ Ἰόβας εἴρηκε γλιχόμενος ἐξελληνίσαι τοὔνομα.
Or they are named from the elbow (ancon) around which they are carried; for Juba has said these things, striving to Hellenize the name.
δύναιτο δὲ ἂν τῆς ἀνέκαθεν φορᾶς πρῶτον ἐπώνυμον γεγονέναι, καὶ τῆς ἀκέσεως τῶν νοσούντων, καὶ τῆς τῶν αὐχμῶν λύσεως, ἔτι δὲ τῆς τῶν δεινῶν ἀνασχέσεως, καθʼ ὃ καὶ τοὺς Διοσκούρους Ἄνακας Ἀθηναῖοι προσηγόρευσαν, εἴ γε δεῖ πρὸς τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν διάλεκτον ἐξάγειν τοὔνομα.
And it might have its name first from the downward fall from above, and from the healing of the sick, and from the relief of droughts, and further from the deliverance from dangers, in accordance with which the Athenians also called the Dioscuri Anakes, if indeed the name must be derived from the Greek language.
§13.7τῷ δὲ Μαμουρίῳ λέγουσι μισθὸν γενέσθαι τῆς τέχνης ἐκείνης μνήμην τινὰ διʼ ᾠδῆς ὑπὸ τῶν Σαλίων ἅμα τῇ πυρρίχῃ διαπεραινομένης.
And for Mamurius they say that a reward for that skill was made, a certain remembrance through a song performed by the Salii together with the pyrrhic dance.
οἱ δὲ οὐ Οὐετούριον Μαμούριον εἶναί φασι τὸν ᾀδόμενον, ἀλλὰ οὐετέρεμ μεμορίαμ, ὅπερ ἐστί, παλαιὰν μνήμην.
But some say that it is not Veturius Mamurius who is sung of, but veterem memoriam, which means ancient memory.